It's a dangerous business, going out your door…

The past few weeks have been hard to bear. With each each move the new presidential administration makes, my heart sinks deeper. I long to join the resistance, to blazingly declare NO, to do more than wring my hands and scroll through social media feeds.

At times like these, I am confronted with my own smallness. I am just one person with just one voice. I live far enough from the cities to make attending protests logistically challenging. My workplace is an hour from where I live, so it’s hard to get involved with local resistance efforts because I’m always in the car.

Where does that leave me? What can I possibly do to make a difference? Who am I to even complain? I live a life of incredible privilege. I’m not going to be deported or separated from my family. I’m not going to face discrimination for my skin color, sexuality, or religion. Yet, even though I will likely get through the next four years unscathed, my heart hurts for those who won’t. This spurs my longing to resist.

I’ve been thinking about these things a great deal over the past weeks and have come to the conclusion that, while I may not to make grand efforts, there are many small ways in which I can take a stand.

Recently, I decided to delete Facebook from my phone. Looking at it all the time wasn’t making things better. If I shared an opinion, the only people who liked or commented were those who agreed. Really, what does this accomplish? Plus, I was wasting a lot of time doing something that wasn’t bringing any satisfaction. It didn’t matter whose opinions were being shared–it all made me feel icky inside.

Of course, pulling away from Facebook doesn’t mean I’m ignoring what’s going on in the world. On the contrary, I’m making an effort to be better informed.

One of the best things I’ve been doing is intentionally reshaping where I get my information. As the Trump administration seeks to delegitimize the media, I have become conscious of where I should be going for news. This has resulted in distancing myself from social media, avoiding the never-ending spinning of news channels like Fox and CNN, veering away from sources like MSNBC that only confirm my biases, and moving towards sources that are credible. Be credible, I mean that they are fact-checked, written by a real person, unbiased, and are current. Instead of scrolling through Facebook while I eat breakfast, I now read the newspaper.

There are days when the stories I come across are so depressing that I just want to look away. I want to close my eyes, ignore the mess, and pretend that things are okay. But, in the words of Albus Dumbledore, “Numbing the pain for a while will make it worse when you finally feel it.”

Ignorance may be bliss, but bliss is self-serving and plays right into Trump’s hands. I can’t say yes to ease and ignore what I know to be right. How can I willingly turn a blind eye to injustice? How can I pretend life is easy and the world is simple when it is not? So, even though it’s unpleasant, I try to stay on top of what it going on.

Another practice I’ve adopted is observing the Sabbath. This is inspired by my Christian faith, but have found it so healthy that I think the principles are for everyone. There’s a lot of theology behind what the Sabbath is and why we practice it, but I’m not going to get into that. Simply put, the Sabbath is a day of rest. It’s about breaking from your daily routine, slowing down, and taking care of your spirit.

Living is weary work. I often find myself exhausted simply by the demands of daily life. With everything the new president and his administration have been up to over the past few weeks, my exhaustion has reached a new level emotionally.

Intentionally practicing Sabbath rest has offered a reprieve from fatigue. What Sabbath looks like for me is always different. Sometimes, it’s going to church with my family and singing hymns off-key with a congregation. Sometimes, it’s relaxing by reading a book or watching a movie. Sometimes, it’s putting the book down and going the the gym. Sometimes, it’s taking my laptop to my local coffee shop and writing. Sometimes, it’s going outside enjoying nature.

Sabbath takes many forms, but garners the same results. I feel fresh and clean. I feel grounded and healthy, ready to face the world.

Finally, I’ve been very intentional at showing kindness and empathy. There is a lot of pain in the world and I don’t want to contribute to it. I firmly believe that all people, no matter ethnicity, religion, political belief, orientation, gender etc., deserve to be treated with dignity and respect.

So I try.

I often find it really hard not to judge people, but I remind myself that everyone has a story and I can only see one piece. I never know what someone is going through and a kind word or smile can go a long way.

In the face of the messy world, staying informed, practicing rest, and showing kindness may not feel like much. There are so many problems out there and my conclusions feel so weak. But it’s a start. My circle of influence may not help the plight of immigrants or refugees, but even the smallest of lights can be seen in the darkness. Resistance, for me, begins in daily attitudes, interactions, and living intentionally. Who knows? It could open doors and equip me to do more in the future.

“We must say Yes to each other. We must say Yes to the needful, to the suffering, to the lonely, to those the Marquess punishes for saying No to her. We must band together, back to back, and say Yes to everyone who lost today, for we are all family now, and our loss is our new last name… But most of all, we must say Yes to the truth and the speaking of it. We must say No to silence.”

4 thoughts on “Everyday Resistance: Saying NO in the Little Ways”

Lovely post. I agree there is too much fake news swirling around poisoning the masses, which, despite Mr. Trump’s claims that he hates the fake media, is exactly what he wants. I don’t even click the news links on Facebook unless the source is from a reputable mainstream media source. I can’t personally justify pulling away from Facebook, but that’s because I’m part of hobby groups (mobile game groups, arts and crafts groups, etc) that continue to be happy places for me. I find refuge there. They’re nice places to be, at least most of the time, plus I still enjoy managing my author page there. If Facebook wasn’t offering you any of that enjoyment, though, it was a good decision to get rid of it.

I may need to take a leaf out of your book about the Sabbath. I’m Wiccan so we don’t have a weekly day of rest but we do celebrate the changing seasons and the cycle of the moon. I’ve been wanting to feel more connected to the Goddess lately and I like the idea of taking a time out to connect with the divine in your own personal way.

In the end, I’ve realised much the same as you; that arguing with the other side doesn’t work and neither does preaching to the choir, so where does that leave us? What can we do? I think we need to figure that out for ourselves. For me, I’ve decided to stop being political on social media unless it’s just to offer love and support to causes I believe in and let my books do most of the talking for me. Just put it all into my art, instead.

It’s a moral obligation to resist injustice, but there are many ways to resist.

Thank you for your comment! I definitely agree that we all need to figure out what to do on our own. Everyone has such different ways of processing things and access to different opportunities–we must find ways of resistance that work for us. 🙂

I love this! I definitely feel like I’ve gotten swept up in trying to participate in every activist meeting on campus, share every story on social media, talk politics with friends constantly, etc. And that stuff is important, but as you remind us, the small things we can do to combat our own ignorance and judgment and take care of ourselves are just as important. Thanks for sharing 🙂

Thanks, Holly! I’m a bit jealous of your position–If I were in a university environment, I’d probably be doing the same. But, alas, I live and work in red-voting rural communities and must make my own way.

Hello and welcome!

Welcome to Keep Your Feet! I’m Amelia, a Minnesotan in my twenties working as a librarian in a small town. Here on my corner of the internet, I share my love of books and adventure, with a mix of stories from my life. Feel free to pull up a chair, pour yourself a cup of coffee, and come along.

Like What You're Reading?

Enter your email address to follow this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.